A win for the biomass campaign: Drax will stop burning B.C. wood pellets for U.K. energy by 2027

Our biomass campaign marked a significant milestone in recent weeks when an article in The Guardian reported that Drax has begun reducing the amount of Canadian wood pellets it burns for electricity, and will stop burning trees from British Columbia entirely within the next year. This sends a warning signal to all governments and investors currently supporting the global biomass industry: this dirty form of energy is untenable.

For years we have organized, researched, rallied, and spoken out to expose the truth: burning forests is not a climate solution. Our investigation released in November revealed that logs from old growth forests were in Drax’s supply chain, debunking its “green” claims yet again. Together, we generated a level of public scrutiny that could not be ignored.

We helped make trees in B.C. too “controversial” to burn in the UK, and that is thanks to you. That is worth celebrating, even as we know we will need to continue keeping an eye on the biomass export industry as our work to protect old growth forests continues.

Stand commends landmark climate-safe retirement fund lawsuit

Earlier this month, a potentially precedent-setting lawsuit was filed against Cushman & Wakefield, one of the largest real estate corporations which is in the business of managing climate risk. The class action lawsuit, brought by a former employee with the help of our friends at ClientEarth, alleges that Cushman & Wakefield’s retirement plan managers breached their fiduciary duties by failing to protect workers’ savings from climate-related financial risks.

This case is about more than one employer or one industry, and could have wide-ranging implications for the $12 trillion in U.S. workers’ retirement savings held in 401(k)-style plans.

For years, Stand has worked to educate and activate public and private sector workers about risks to their pensions and retirement funds, as well as to accelerate investments that advance a clean-energy future, including through managing the Climate Safe Pensions Network and the Climate Safe Retirement Fund campaign.

Protect Orcas, Reject Dredging

Orcas, already an endangered species, are facing yet another industrial threat to their fragile habitat.

In British Columbia, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority is proposing a dredging project which would disturb contaminated sediments and re-expose habitat to historical pollution. The Burrard Inlet, where the project is proposed to take place, connects directly to critical habitat for the endangered Southern Resident killer whale — a population already struggling due to vessel noise, declining salmon stocks, and toxic pollution.

The Port Authority is accepting public comments until Sunday, March 22 as part of its environmental review process. Please join us in taking a few minutes to raise your voices in support of orcas and oppose this project by submitting a comment.